(The views expressed below are the views of
Denny Jelsma, and his opinions of artists and art work.)

Jelsma Graphics is one of, if not the largest distributor of
railroad art in the country, and has been since 1985. I have seen thousands
of pictures of railroad items from prints to original
paintings. While some have been extremely good, some have also been very bad.
"I feel my knowledge of railroadings historical aspects as well as my understanding
the desires of the railfan, is something I can bring to the table to help
make an experienced critique." I can bring my knowledge of the RR industry and
RR history coupled with the desires of railfans to bear in my honest
evaluation of these artists, something that we have been doing quite well for years here
at Jelsma Graphics.

We always try to offer only the best art available.
We are constantly being asked of our opinions of railroad art, and our opinion
has been truly appreciated by the railfans. Because of this, I have decided to
come up with a rating system for artists in general, and for
railroad prints as well. The criteria we will be using is based on a variety of aspects.
We will be scoring the artists with a
rating from 1 - 10. "Ten" will be excellent, while
"One" will be unacceptable. We will be rating
artists on reliability, honesty, timeliness, historical
accuracy, style, and salability. The artists that we will be
rating, will be artists who's products we carry.

We will also rate each individual print. Even though we may
have an artist listed as rated "Nine," that artist
may produce a painting that we feel should be rated
"Five." We will be rating each individual print to
help you decide if this print is a good investment for you.

We will be adding a rating list of original paintings in the very
near future. You will be able to find the paintings listed,
with their rating listed by them. You will also be able to see
the rating number when you click on to the pictures of the
paintings. Please see our list of artists below, as we feel they
should be rated. Each artists rating below is an average of all the products we carry
for that artist. To see individual ratings, click on the artists name, which will
link you to the prints database with images and more information on each
individual print.

Note that any artist who has not yet been rated
is marked "NR" (Not Rated) and is currently under evaluation. As
soon as a numerical "Rating" has been established it will be posted.
In the meantime, if you feel you need some advise please feel free to call our
phone number or send us an email Email Critic